


WHAT A PRECIOUS BASKET CASE

by animatedpng



Series: ᴛʀɪʟᴏɢʏ [1]
Category: To Do List (Game), To Do List - Fandom
Genre: (kinda. time skip stuff happens), Accidental Bonding, Cooking, Fluff, M/M, Other, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, also! references/foreshadowing to the game if that's up anyones alley, lots of headcanons bc canon is vague and i do what i want AGHFDG, protagonist is named Seth and uses they/he
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23710981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animatedpng/pseuds/animatedpng
Summary: Mikhail was a simple man. Truthfully, he had only expected to just be on a mission in space to better all of humanity. Sometimes life had different intentions.(alternate title: Mikhail "I fell in love with one (1) creepy but sweet man" Mamin)
Relationships: Mike & Protagonist (To Do List), Mike/Protagonist (To Do List)
Series: ᴛʀɪʟᴏɢʏ [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717039
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	WHAT A PRECIOUS BASKET CASE

“--and here is your list of members to your brigade, Mamin. Everyone will be shortly notified of their participation with this project. Godspeed and good luck.”

Mikhail saluted briefly along with everyone else as the captain made his leave. When everyone had dispersed to their quarters, he opened the folder once he was alone and almost dropped it entirely once he saw the first file.

He had _them_? Of all available people?

Sighing loudly, he snapped the folder shut and, his mood thoroughly soured, went into his office to mentally prepare for whatever awaited him in his journey and during his stay at that strange floating island.

God.

Fucking.

Damnit.

\--

It was only the first few days of settling into their temporary home that they had gotten on his nerves, and _hard_.

“SELEZNYOVA.”

“Oh--”

“Would you _kindly_ tell me what you did this time?” Mikhail said with arms crossed as he eyed the offending soccer ball in Seth’s arms, prompting them to hold it tighter and shifted their gaze toward the ground. 

Nearby, Thomas was sitting on the ground with a dazed expression and trying to catch his breath. Which was to be expected, of course, as he had almost fallen off the island while in the process of catching Seth’s sportsball.

Luckily for them both, Mikhail just so happened to be leaving his cabin the moment this had started to occur and saved both of their behinds from whatever laid below.

“...E-Exercise?” Seth squeaked meekly, nervously glancing from their shoes and to Mikhail’s glowing expression before slowly dropping their gaze back down.

Mikhail pinched the bridge of his nose, the simple answer not sitting well with him. Turning away from Seth, he looked towards Thomas. “Knight, you alright?”

“I’m peachy, commander, just need a moment…”

He nodded and dropped his hand from his hip. His back now towards his subordinates, he waved his hand slightly at them and was about to return to his cabin when Seth rushed past him.

He was stopped by Mikhail grabbing him on the shoulder, flinching at the contact.

“Take this seriously, would you? We’re doing this for the good of all humanity, not on a vacation,” he warned, letting go of Seth. They stumbled forward slightly, started to shake, and ran into their cabin.

Mikhail watched Seth’s door for a few moments, something twinging in his heart but he ignored it and walked over to Thomas. Helping him up and keep steady, he escorted him to his cabin and helped him inside before leaving him to his business.

Once he was alone, he pulled out his written to-do list and absentmindedly read it despite already knowing what it said. The quiet, yet distinct sound of a door opening drifted into his ears and footsteps on the grass left Seth’s cabin, only to scramble back inside with a small panicked door slam once they had noticed Mikhail still outside.

With a small sigh, he pocketed the list and decided to get to work.

There was still things to do, after all.

Just another day.

\--

To his surprise, he warmed up to Seth within the next few weeks. Of course, only once he got used to their behavior and looked past their more... _quirky_ habits. Seth was rather sweet, all things considered.

Their information file gave Mikhail the impression that they were unbearable if a hard worker along with the unflattering rumors floating around the faculty he had caught wind of.

He supposed he shouldn’t have judged a book by it’s cover, as old as that saying was.

At that moment in time Mikhail was helping prepare dinner alongside Seth, the food itself being a nice stew they could all have due to Seth’s vegetarianism. Besides, it was their choice of dinner that night, it was the least he could do to help out his fri-- _subordinate_.

In the middle of chopping the carrots, he glanced over at Seth’s own portion of the work absentmindedly in thought before snapping out of it and grabbed Seth’s knife holding hand gently.

“Ah?” they asked, face twisting in surprise at the touch. The half diced potatoes lay on their side of the cutting board haphazardly. “What is it?”

“You have to be careful, the nearest hospital is not close,” he stated simply, motioning to how close the knife was to chopping their fingers. Seth blinked, looking down at their hand.

“Oh. Thank you, Mike.”

“...S’nothing.”

Returning to his work, Mikhail tried to not focus on the spontaneous nickname. Oddly enough he didn’t mind it too much, at least not enough to correct them. Judging by their more careful movements with the knife but still relaxed posture, Seth either didn’t notice or care.

An odd feeling rested in his stomach, unsure of how to categorize it. It wasn’t an entirely bad feeling but it wasn’t fully pleasant either.

How strange.

Shaking it off, he finished with the carrots with ease and looked back over at Seth, who was clearly taking his advice to heart with their not-as-frantic dicing. Mikhail then gathered up the carrot pieces and put them to the side to prepare the next item.

Getting started with chopping the celery, he fell into his thoughts as he worked. Or rather he didn’t really think of much, if at all. The joys of cooking, as it were.

You can zone the fuck out and not worry about the important mission at hand.

Just focus on one thing at a time--

“Mike?”

_Damn it_.

“Yes, Seleznyova?” he answered, glancing up slightly at them. Seth shuffled slightly, appearing rather hesitant to speak up again. “Something the matter?”

“...Could you do the onions next?”

Mikhail blinked at the request.

“N-Nevermind, I can--” Seth stuttered, regret contorting their face slightly.

“Alright.”

“...Oh!”

Mikhail eyed the remaining ingredients to be prepared. “As long as you handle the garlic,” he added, setting aside the finely chopped celery. “That should be fair.”

Seth nodded slowly, potatoes pushed safely aside as well. Mikhail noted that their face was slightly flushed as they got to work but half-shrugged and started on the onions, putting it out of his mind.

They were still strange to the core, after all. It wasn’t like he couldn’t handle it, though.

Needless to say, the food that night was delicious.

\--

Within the two months of their stay, it was brought to his attention one day how close he and Seth were.

It only happened due to Thomas making a rather… _offhand_ comment under his breath.

“Excuse me, Knight?” Thomas cringed, no doubt cursing how sharp his commander’s ears were and willingness to call it out internally. “If you have a problem with me, you will say it to my face and not try to hide it like a goddamn coward.”

“W-Well, commander… There are only three of us here and, frankly, you do spend more time with Seleznyova than myself…” he hesitantly said, voice volume dropping the more he spoke.

Mikhail crossed his arms, giving him a look from behind his hair to continue at his risk. “And this bothers a man who, and I quote, ‘would rather keep to himself than interact with others’?”

Thomas swallowed thickly.

“I’d understand if you’ve had a change of heart, isolated as we are, but do you think you could have kept this to yourself until we returned home or put it in a more pleasant manner?”

“Commander, I--”

“MIKE, THE WORM IS BACK!”

He sighed, giving Thomas a harsh look and left the cabin with him trailing behind. Seth was outside, exasperation clear on their face as they waved the two over.

Meanwhile the worm-like alien sat nearby, unreadable as ever and just as understandable in it’s speech.

“Knight, it’s your turn to deal with it,” Mikhail said, moving Thomas to the front of him. He motioned for Seth to come over to him and turned towards Thomas. “Do a good job, would you?”

Thomas’ slack mouth was visible from his shocked face and Seth glanced between the two of them. They gave Mikhail a questioning glance, receiving a stern but somehow soft look. Leading Seth away, he felt Thomas’ narrowed stare digging a hole into his back.

He did not care.

All he wanted to focus on what his current priority was. And so be it if it was calming Seth down.

Besides, Mikhail knew how they got when they were agitated enough. So it was his duty as commander to make sure his brigade was alright. Seth was just the most important at the moment due to how they got and god forbid if they went into an episode.

~~(Those worried him the most about them. Not that he would admit it.)~~

Thomas would be fine, of course; the alien was proven to not hurt anyone, despite being a pest more often than not.

Mikhail was not being irrational.

He handled this as a commander should.

\--

He supposed that, all things considered, he was dating one of the two people he was in command of.

Which was ethically dicey, going by the rule book.

Truthfully, Mikhail absolutely did not give a flying fuck. He had come to this realization during almost a year of their stay on the floating island.

Most likely, of course, issues concerning his misconduct would be brought into light the moment they all returned back to Earth. Again, he did not care in that moment of time. All that mattered was that Seth was happy.

Thomas had long since stopped complaining about what was fair and what was not, he knew when he was losing a battle he never could have won in the first place. He knew his place, after all.

Asserting his authority when he shouldn’t? Mikhail supposed he was, in a sense. Some part of him was thinking that the rest of him had lost his mind in what was supposed to be a straightforward mission.

Arrive, survive two years, and go back home.

That was the deal.

Of course, he never expected to actually get along with someone he had such a bad impression of. The miracle of not knowing the future, as it seemed to be the case. Either way, he was more than content to live in the moment until he either crashed or burned in the future.

This was fine.

He was fine.

“...Mike?”

Mikhail snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention towards them. “Yes, Seth?”

“Something wrong?” they asked, head tilting cutely as they looked up from their _favorite_ book, as they had declared when taking it out to read it. Mikhail frowned inquisitively at the question. “You have a weird look on your face. The one where you are thinking hard about something,” they explained.

“Oh,” he said, a small smile drifting onto his lips at their perception. “It’s not important, I’m just thinking about something fuckin’ silly. I’m fine.”

“Ah. That’s good!” They returned the smile, too many teeth showing. Mikhail found it charming, heart fluttering, and went over to the bed, pecking them on the cheek.

He got into bed with Seth, holding them gently and placing his head on their shoulder as he snuggled up to them. “Mind reading to me? You don’t have to start over.”

Seth flushed but nodded eagerly as much as they could without jostling Mikhail and turned their focus back onto their book. Clearing their throat, they started to read from where they left off.

  
 _Hopefully things turn out alright_ , Mikhail thought pleasantly, rubbing a finger over Seth’s hand softly as their voice filled his ears.

**Author's Note:**

> these poor bastards don't know what awaits them but boy do i love writing kinda soft shit with these characters even tho 2/3rds of them are dead in canon :^)c
> 
> also play To Do List :gun:


End file.
